It isn’t India vs Australia Test series, without a fair bit of controversy. And the Border Gavaskar Trophy has witnessed numerous such controversial and nasty moments over the years. Be it the infamous Monkeygate scandal or Michael Clarke’s constant sledging of Indian players back in 2008. Here we take a look at 5 of the biggest controversial moments in the Border Gavaskar Trophy series.
Monket Scandal (2008)
This was perhaps the most controversial moment in the history of Test matches between India vs Australia. Back in 2008 in Sydney, the incident took place between Harbhajan Singh and Andrew Symonds. The Aussie all-rounder accused the Indian spinner of using a racial slur aka. monkey when the former was batting.
Both sides went on to defend their players with India claiming that Harbhajan didn’t racially abuse the Aussie player. The Indian spinner was then slapped with a 3-match ban by the ICC. However, later on, the ban was overturned owing to a lack of evidence.
Brain Fade by Steve Smith (2017)
Steve Smith has had his fair share of controversy in recent times. The former Australia Cricket Team captain was accused and jeered for not following the spirit of the game. The incident took place back in 2017 in the Bengaluru Test match. Steve Smith while opting to take a DRS review, looked towards the dressing room to seek guidance about whether to take the review or not.
This move by the then-Aussie captain wasn’t taken well by the Indian camp. Virat Kohli and others criticized Australia and Steve Smith claiming the stunt by Steve Smith was against the spirit of the game.
Rishabh Pant’s spat with Tim Paine (2018-19)
Be it a babysitter or Temporary Captain, Rishabh Pant had a huge spat with then-Australian captain Tim Paine. What initially started out as a light banter turned up to be a war of words between both the players. The Aussie captain provoked the Indian keeper to be his babysitter given that MS Dhoni was back in the squad in ODIs.
In reply, Rishabh Pant too was quick with his words. The destructive southpaw took little time to chuckle back and inform the team that Australia’s temporary captain had come to the crease.
Michale Clarke’s Sledging (2007-08)
Back in those days, Australia was one of the greatest teams on the planet. And with their game, came the attitude and the incessant sledging. The Sydney Test in 2008 goes down in the history books for being one of the most controversial games of the BGT series. Clarke’s incessant sledging coupled with some wrong on-field umpiring decisions became the precursor to the Monkeygate saga.
Pune Pitch Criticism (2017)
Back in 2017, the IND vs AUS Pune Test was concluded in just 3 days. It wasn’t normal for Test matches to get concluded within such a short span. As a result, the pitch was extremely criticised for being too spin-friendly. It was, however, Australia, the visitors who had the last laugh as they survived better and eventually went on to win the game by 333 runs.
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